iAB Annual:The Integrated Agency

Rob Norman is a funny guy. And his company is going through some serious thinking about how it organizes itself to meet client needs.

The director of the interaction group at WPP's GroupM - "the largest company you never heard of," according to IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg - Norman talked about the fundamental changes affecting the agency business overall, and his company in particular. Operating in 73 countries, the 16,000-employee GroupM does three things: Create, distribute, and measure advertising. But historically it's duplicated each of those functions in each country, and in both the analog and interactive worlds.

That duplication probably doesn't make much sense in an era where costs are increasing, and customers demand better integration. As a result, GroupM is consolidating a variety of functions worldwide to increase efficiency and customer response. And it's working hard to integrate the capabilities of WPP's 24/7 Media acquisition to provide a consistent technology layer as well.

That may have a lot of implications for competitors and others who have rolled up a variety of related but barely-integrated businesses. We may see a lot more of this kind of re-jiggering of organization and services in coming months.

But perhaps even more interesting is the company's ventures into the content business. By Norman's report, GroupM has well over $100 million invested in developing TV shows and other content, either in partnership with or in support of its customers. He maintains that where GroupM takes these kinds of risks, "putting skin in the game," his company should also participate in the upside from those investments.

We saw a similar perspective the day before from a marketer, Don Friedman, EVP & CMO of CA, who said on the "Coopetition" panel that his company commissioned a custom print publication, delivered directly to its top customers. Typically the province of media companies, the content business is hard for marketers and agencies, but because it's also a strong attractor - my mantra for years in publishing is "content-driven attention" - it also offers tremendous value for those who get it right. As we've heard time and again from speakers at the conference, the lines between players in the marketing ecosystem continue to blur.

gB

(Disclosure: IAB is a client of my company, Xigi Media)